If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

November 12th, 2011- OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI!

Dear All,

Please 'sit-a-long' with our MONTHLY4-hourZAZENKAI, netcast LIVE8am to noon Japan time Saturday morning (that is New York 6pm to 10pm, Los Angeles 3pm to 7pm (Friday night), London 11pm to 3am and Paris midnight to 4am (early Saturday morning)) ... and visible at the following link during those times ...

But FEAR NOT if not possible for you to join 'live' in your location at those times, as the entire sitting is recorded in 'REAL TIME' and available for full participation 'ON DEMAND' at ANY TIME after that, no different from the 'live' sitting . Just click then on the links below:

THE 'REAL TIME, ANY TIME' recorded version is divided into 3 parts as follows (click on the links) :

Our Zazenkai consists of our chanting the 'Heart Sutra' and the 'Identity of Relative and Absolute (Sandokai)' in English (please download our Chant Book at the link below), some full floor prostrations (please follow along with me ... or a simple Gassho can be substituted if you wish), a little talk by me ... and we close with the 'Metta Chant', followed at the end with the 'Verse of Atonement' and 'The Four Vows'. Oh, and lots and lots of Zazen and walkin' Kinhin in between!

Please download and print out the Chant Book (PDF) at the following link:

I STRONGLY SUGGEST THAT YOU POSITION YOUR ZAFU ON THE FLOOR IN A PLACE WHERE YOU ARE NOT STARING DIRECTLY AT THE COMPUTER SCREEN, BUT CAN GLANCE OVER AND SEE THE SCREEN WHEN NECESSARY. YOUR ZAFU SHOULD ALSO BE IN A POSITION WHERE YOU CAN SEE THE COMPUTER SCREEN WHILE STANDING IN FRONT OF THE ZAFU FOR THE CEREMONIES, AND HAVE ROOM FOR BOWING AND KINHIN.

ALSO, REMEMBER TO SET YOUR COMPUTER (& SCREEN SAVER) SO THAT IT DOES NOT SHUT OFF DURING THE 4 HOURS.

I hope you will join us ... an open Zafu is waiting. When we drop all thought of 'here' 'there' 'now' 'then' ... we are sitting all together!

Re: November 12th, 2011- OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI!

Today's talk will be rocking with comments on the Bodhisattva Precepts traditionally attributed to Master Bodhidharma ...

1) Self-nature is mysteriously profound.
In the everlasting Dharma,
not giving rise to the notion of extinction is called the precept of not taking life.

2) Self-nature is mysteriously profound.
In the Dharma in which nothing can be obtained,
not giving rise to the thought of obtaining is called the precept of not stealing.

3) Self-nature is mysteriously profound.
In the Dharma in which there is nothing to grasp,
not giving rise to attachment is called the precept of not misusing sex.

4) Self-nature is mysteriously profound.
In the inexplicable Dharma,
not speaking even a single word is called the precept of not telling lies.

5) Self-nature is mysteriously profound.
In the intrinsically pure Dharma,
not allowing the mind to become deluded is called the precept of not dealing with intoxicants.

6) Self-nature is mysteriously profound.
In the flawless Dharma,
not speaking of others’ faults is called the precept of not criticizing others.

7) Self-nature is mysteriously profound.
In the sphere of equal Dharma,
not speaking of self and others is called the precept of not being proud of self and slandering others.

8 ) Self-nature is mysteriously profound.
In the all-pervading true Dharma,
not clinging to one form is called the precept of not coveting.

9) Self-nature is mysteriously profound.
In the Dharma of no-self,
not giving rise to the thought of self and others is called the precept of not giving way to anger.

10) Self-nature is mysteriously profound.
In the one Dharma,
not giving rise to the thought of distinction between sentient beings and the Buddhas is called the precept of not speaking falsely of the Three Treasures.

Re: November 12th, 2011- OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI!

Re: November 12th, 2011- OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI!

Is anybody else having technical difficulties? I got about 35 minutes through the first video when it abruptly ended. I can't get any of them to play now; they just won't buffer. I 'm just going to do most of this week's sitting on my own with a timer and catch up on the dharma talk another time.

Re: November 12th, 2011- OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI!

Originally Posted by Jennifer G P

Is anybody else having technical difficulties? I got about 35 minutes through the first video when it abruptly ended. I can't get any of them to play now; they just won't buffer. I 'm just going to do most of this week's sitting on my own with a timer and catch up on the dharma talk another time.

Gassho,

Jen

I am sorry to hear that. Look at it this way ... once I had a small fever and sneezing suddenly, and had to leave a Zazenkai in the middle to sit alone so I wouldn't make others sick. This is just the "hi tech" version! We sit with all obstacles ... and then they are not "obstacles"!

May I suggest the old general medicine: Have you updated FLASH recently? See if that works.

Re: November 12th, 2011- OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI!

Ah, it's working again today! I've been having some trouble with my internet connection, which probably had something to do with it. Anyway, sitting with the computer, sitting without the computer, no matter.

Re: November 12th, 2011- OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI!

Originally Posted by Jennifer G P

Ah, it's working again today! I've been having some trouble with my internet connection, which probably had something to do with it. Anyway, sitting with the computer, sitting without the computer, no matter.

Jen

Nah it was Justin.tv. I had been trying to get the dharma talk so I could put on podcast without success...until just a few min ago.

Re: November 12th, 2011- OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI!

Btw, did you find the origin of Bodhidharma's commentaries on the precepts? My 'net searches just turn up tons of websites with the commentaries, but no information on the original text...

Hi Matt,

This interpretation of the Precepts, much cherished in Japanese Zen, is actually based on an interpretation of the Precepts made earlier in Tendai Buddhism (most of the early Japanese Zen figures like Dogen came out of Tendai Buddhism). As I said, it is not likely the these Precept commentaries can be attributed actually to Bodhidharma, who left us very few if any writings, and it seems that the Tendai priest who first made such assertions was speaking from his heart and insight more than from historical fact. Here, in a nutshell, is description from an article on the topic by Dogenologist and Historian, William Bodiford ...

My contribution to this volume, "Bodhidharma's Precepts in Japan,'' examines the nexus between [Japanese Tendai Buddhism founder] Saicho's Perfect Sudden Precepts and the Zen tradition. Saicho's disciple Kojo? (779±858) identified Saicho's precepts as the One Mind Precepts (isshinkai) and described them in tantric terms. More important, he stated that they had been brought from India to China by Bodhidharma (the legendary Zen ancestor), who transmitted them to the founders of the Tendai lineage. Although Kojo's explanations exerted little influence among subsequent Tendai scholars, they were readily accepted within medieval Japanese Zen circles, where the One Mind Precepts became synonymous with the mind-to-mind (isshin denshin) transmission of Zen. Thus many Japanese Zen lineages relied on Chinese monastic pure rules for their standards of proper behavior and performed precept ordinations not for their moral content but as a tantric initiation rite that conferred a direct link to the awakened mind of the Buddha. This adherence to a Japanese approach to the precepts contrasts sharply with the role of Zen lineages in popularizing many aspects of Song culture in medieval Japan.

Bodiford examines the precept lineage traditionally held to have been transmitted by Bodhidharma. Bodhidharma is one of the most important and enigmatic figures in the history of East Asian Buddhism and is the subject of numerous legends and myths. Because so little is known about him or his activities, he has been appropriated in different ways by various individuals and schools, particularly Chan/Zen. Bodiford mentions the impact of Saich?’s (767–822) famous rejection of Indian “H?nay?na” vinaya in favor of bodhisattva precepts and his decision to establish an alternative system of ordination on Mt. Hiei. According to Bodiford, Saich? viewed Bodhidharma as an Indian paradigm of a “bodhisattva monk,” fully committed to Buddhist practice but unburdened by the unnecessary restrictions of traditional monasticism. In this interpretation, conferral of the bodhisattva precepts is thought to directly transmit the awakened mind of the buddhas and patriarchs. In Japan, those who received the precepts were conceived as appropriating this mind transmission and thus making a direct link to the very origins of Buddhism.

Re: November 12th, 2011- OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI!

Jundo-oso;
I finally got around to watching/listening to the his month's Dharma Talk this morning. Thank you, I simply love the crescendo of expression and passion as you get to the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th precepts. All of this driving home the notion that there is nothing to gain, nothing to give, nothing to take, nothing to forgive. All is (non) perfect just as it is !
Ware tada taru wo shiru
arigato gozaimasu